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First eurofighter ipa takes to the air

05 Apr 2002

BAE Systems welcomes today's maiden flight of the first Eurofighter Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA), IPA2 in Italy.

BAE Systems has made a significant contribution to this first flight with the Company's own aircraft, IPA1, undertaking significant design verification and flight clearance work on behalf of all the Eurofighter partners. This has allowed IPA2 to achieve the first flight of a production Eurofighter. IPA1's first flight is imminent and the aircraft is at a very mature standard at which to enter the flight test programme.

In addition, around 100 BAE Systems employees have been based in Italy, Germany and Spain working in partnership with their colleagues to ensure that IPA2 has moved smoothly towards first flight.

Commenting on this major milestone in the Eurofighter development programme Ross Bradley, Managing Director - Eurofighter at BAE Systems said: "This is a historic event for the Eurofighter programme. To have flown the first production aircraft less than four years after the Production Contract was placed is a major achievement. This has set a new standard in performance in the defence industry and is a true reflection of European collaboration and capability. As a four nation programme, it is important that each partner supports the others by making best use of the skills and facilities available to it. In the UK, IPA1 has provided extensive support to enable IPA2's successful first flight and BAE Systems staff in the UK, Germany Italy and Spain have put in a lot of hard work and dedicated effort to ensure this important flight has taken place successfully. We now look forward to IPA1's first flight in the next few days."

IPA3, based at Manching in Germany, is scheduled to make its first flight in the next day or so.
Notes to Editors:

About Eurofighter Typhoon:

The Eurofighter Typhoon is the world's most advanced swing-role combat aircraft, developed by the leading aerospace companies, BAE Systems, EADS Deutschland, Alenia Aerospazio, and EADS Spain, of the four partner countries, the UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Eurofighter Typhoon features unrivalled technology, designed for the defence needs across the next 40 years.

Agile, stealthy, twin-engined and designed to operate from hastily prepared bases and small runways and for worldwide operations, it is equipped with advanced multi-mode, pulse-Doppler Radar and an extensive range of sensors and electronic countermeasures.

The aircraft's ability to gain air superiority Beyond Visual Range (BVR) and in close combat, and at the same time deliver high sortie rates against naval and ground targets in all weathers with a variety of weapons, demands close attention to pilot workload. In Eurofighter, the pilot flies through use of a computerised flight control system, which offers full carefree handling.

A strong emphasis has been placed on reducing cost of ownership in addition to outstanding performance and flight safety. Reliability, low cost of maintenance and a sophisticated on-board testing system ensure ease of day to day management and through life costs that make the Eurofighter Typhoon less expensive to run than the generation of aircraft it is designed to replace.

The Eurofighter partner nations will take delivery of 620 aircraft: 232 for the UK, 180 for Germany, 121 for Italy and 87 for Spain.